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Monday, May 16, 2011

thoughts on Nonfiction Book Group titles from Citizen Reader

One of my favorite book bloggers is Citizen Reader. She reads and writes about both fiction and nonfiction, but tends to prefer nonfiction. This is a welcome change, as most book blogs focus on fiction or genre. CR (as her readers affectionately call her) also contributes to The Reader's Advisory Online, and has also written and co-written a couple of books on the subject, so she knows what she's talking about. CR recently put up a list of books she'd recommend for Nonfiction Book Groups. Has anyone read any of these or used them in your book groups? What do you think of using Three Cups of Tea due to the most recent controversy? Or Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother? What do you use in your NF book groups?

PS. CR also does something called a Book Menage a few times a year, which is an online book club where participants read two books and then discuss them online over a week long period. It's loads of fun, and highly recommended. Here's a link to the most recent titles; discussion begins May 23rd.

2 comments:

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother would be highly discussable, although I have yet to find a single person who liked the author as she presented herself. Not liking the "main character" might prevent a person from actually finishing the book.

I love Citizen Reader, and after I read her list of book group possibilities I added "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother," "Dirty Life," and "Cleopatra" as possible reads. Last year we all loved "84, Charing Cross Road" so much I showed the movie. It got high marks from the group. I thought it would be a good substitute for the then too-popular-to-obtain "Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society."

Other Book Discussion Resources

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Please note: READS-TO-GO is run by a committee of volunteers who work on the project in addition to their regular library jobs. They have used readily available online resources in putting together book summaries, author information, and discussion questions for the kit titles. These resources include some of the sites listed above, publishers' and other websites.